Material for Concept Paper

i think our chief concerns are as follows:

a) access - which as Anders points out that despite the complex pattern - access to research itself can be quite extensive in Africa if it is navigated to and used.

b) accessibility - many of the lost opportunities to benefit from access may owe themselves to accessibility. In conducting a literature search, one wants to sample literature based on the research criteria, and not to pass literature up because a) it's too expensive or b) there is difficulty in navigating access between UN, INASP and Oxford-type programs and OA to find one's way to the article. In addition connectivity issues may hamper and slow research efforts. Language is an important factor as well, as is accessibility for sensory-impaired individuals.

c) Usage and knowledge translation - One hopes that access to research is becoming more equitable, but the poverty of access in the past means that the development of a broader research culture, evidence-based policy-making and the full benefits of access will be a long-term process. The supply is increasing, but what are researchers demanding, and what are they producing in developing countries, what knowledge is needed and what is useful? There may be broader issues as to whether Africa and other developing regions will follow the West in terms of the research culture and its impact on society - or will they begin to determine their own path while becoming a force that shapes and influences the global research community? will they be able to leapfrog some of our more out-moded habits?

For me, the following research questions are relevant, and we may choose to focus on some of these..

1) what barriers exists in searching for relevant literature to support research conducted in developing country locations?
2) what barriers exist in the making use of the functions of research for development?
3) what potentials are afforded by new communications and the availability of research and are opportunities lost owing to access or accessibility issues?
4) what is the role of research partnerships and networks on developing research,
5) what is the effect of increased availability and use of literature from any location on research partnerships?

Access and accessibilty are the more concrete issues, and knowledge and self-determination the broader issues (for me at least). Peer-reviewed journal articles may be an important aspect of a larger picture in that sense. From a development standpoint, access to research creates a more fertile ground for development. Perhaps the asymmetry in research and development partnerships between North-South will gradually be diminished, and more equitable development partnerships can be the result. Universities certainly can play a role here, and that is the focus of my MA thesis.

In terms of usage and knowledge tranlation, there are new opportunities when access and accessibility are improved, for more and better research partnerships both North-South and South-South. In the long-term, there is greater potential for discovery, innovation, philosophical and cultural contribution, the development of medicine, arts, literature, science etc. - in effect the rise of African and other civilizations historically diminished by colonialism. In the global context, contributions can be global and everyone can benefit from this renaissance, thereby making the globe more like the planet - well-rounded!

For us, the concrete issue of accessibility is the main focus since access itself has already gained momentum, on the larger issues many more voices are needed. For this purpose, there are various approaches. Research question 1) needs to be answered perhaps more completely, but some of the barriers are hypothesized through our discussion and lead to possible interventions: these may be;

a) creating a resource guide for navigating access to OA and subsidized content (accessibility to access!). This is the simplest project.
b) create a federated search that consolidates all OA journal, OA repository, OA learning content searches to simplify locating of articles. Perhaps UN and other subsidized journal collections should also be included (easy global search!) - this could be done through:
i) Creating a search engine able to crawl all relevant locations and filter content.
ii) collaborate with the main providers of search and access to OA and subsidized articles, to create a meta-search to consolidate their coverage.
ii) collaborate with Google Scholar to refine GS to filter and identify content that is accessible, or the route to access (journal is part of HINARI etc.)

Should the site that hosts a) or b) be successful in its purpose, it may mean that it is visited by a large number of researchers and students worldwide who have thus far been relatively excluded. The site could be have a user-generated community aspect that would allow people to network, collaborate and advocate.

In all, we are mindful of duplication and the respect for the work that has already been done. It would seem consistent, that these projects hold to Open Source/Open Access principles, not only for the ethic but because the process is more likely to succeed this way.

cheers,

arif